The carbon economy -- emissions from the Colstrip coal plants in Montana. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency boss, Scott Pruitt, wants America to "exit" from the Paris cliamte accord, signed by nearly 200 countries, which pledged to curb the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. less

The carbon economy -- emissions from the Colstrip coal plants in Montana. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency boss, Scott Pruitt, wants America to "exit" from the Paris cliamte accord, signed by ... more

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A coal train passes derailed cars of an oil train beneath the Magnolia Bridge in 2014. The Trump administration is reversing course on the U.S. move toward clean energy resources. Top aides will convene at the White House on Tuesday to discuss whether to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, an agreement signed by nearly 200 nations. less

A coal train passes derailed cars of an oil train beneath the Magnolia Bridge in 2014. The Trump administration is reversing course on the U.S. move toward clean energy resources. Top aides will convene at ... more

Photo: JOSHUA BESSEX, SEATTLEPI.COM

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The world's No. 1 and No. 2 emitters of greenhouse gases: China's President Xi Jinping has committed his country to spend $360 billion on developing clean energy sources; President Obama negotiated a climate accord that set goals for China to reduce its emissions. Now, the Trump administration is forfeiting global leadership on climate to China. less

The world's No. 1 and No. 2 emitters of greenhouse gases: China's President Xi Jinping has committed his country to spend $360 billion on developing clean energy sources; President Obama negotiated a climate ... more

Photo: Kim Kyung-hoon, AP

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China's President Xi Jinping and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee at Everett's Paine Field on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. Two months later, they would be at the Paris climate summit, endorsing an accord signed by nearly 200 nations. The Trump administration is seeking to repeal it.

China's President Xi Jinping and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee at Everett's Paine Field on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. Two months later, they would be at the Paris climate summit, endorsing an accord signed by

Bill Gates and world leaders, at Paris climate conference, unveil massive public-private effort to speed development of clean energy technologies and put them into production. US President Barack Obama (R) delivers a speech as French President Francois Hollande (C) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates (2nd R) listen during the "Mission Innovation: Accelerating the Clean Energy Revolution" meeting on the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, on Nov. 30, 2015.

Bill Gates and world leaders, at Paris climate conference, unveil massive public-private effort to speed development of clean energy technologies and put them into production. US President Barack Obama (R)

Bill Gates pledged $1 billion of his own fortune to investment in clean-energy startups.

Bill Gates pledged $1 billion of his own fortune to investment in clean-energy startups.

Photo: Seth Wenig, AP

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former CEO of ExxonMobil. The oil giant has sent a letter to President Trump endorsing the Paris climate accords. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and top Trump aide Steve Bannon want to take the United States out of the agreement signed by nearly 200 nations. less

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former CEO of ExxonMobil. The oil giant has sent a letter to President Trump endorsing the Paris climate accords. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and top Trump aide Steve ... more

Photo: / Associated Press

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EPA head: Paris climate accord a 'bad deal'; U.S. should get out

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The new boss of the Environmental Protection Agency, a fossil fuel ally, says the historic Paris climate accord is "a bad deal for America" and that the United States should "exit" the agreement signed by nearly 200 nations.

The remarks by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, during a softball interview on "Fox & Friends," came as a divided Trump hierarchy is set to meet Tuesday to discuss whether to pull America out of the Paris agreement.

"Paris is something that we need to really look at closely. It's something we need to exit in my opinion," said Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general who once joined with the petroleum industry in suing the agency he now heads.

"It's a bad deal for America," he added. "It was an America second, third or fourth kind of approach. China and India had no obligations under the agreement until 2030. We front-loaded all of our costs."

That statement by Pruitt is false. China and India have targets to meet by 2030, and already are moving aggressively to increase their clean-energy resources. China and the United States reached a separate climate accord under the Obama administration.

The change in approach by the Trump administration, the latest being Pruitt's Good Friday surprise, is dizzying. The Paris agreement was signed just 17 months ago.

"In just three months in office, Donald Trump has already unleashed a breathtaking assault on our climate progress," Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters said Friday.

"Pulling out of the Paris climate agreement or renouncing our commitments to reduce carbon emissions would take us even further in the wrong direction, putting global health at risk and jeopardizing our country's standing in the world."

Yet, senior officials such as the EPA's Pruitt and Trump's chief political strategist Steve Bannon support a pullout. Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (although a former Exxon-Mobil CEO) favor staying in, according to a Friday item on Politico.

The Paris talks appeared to show a global political and private enterprise commitment to curbing the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

President Obama, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Francois Hollande flanked philanthropist Bill Gates as Gates announced a major public-private partnership to take on climate change.

The partnership committed 20 governments to double their renewable-energy research budgets, for a commitment of $20 billion over the next five years.

Gates and other wealthy technology executives agreed to put at least $2 billion into clean-energy startups. Gates committed $1 billion of his own fortune to the effort.

Gates was not the only Washingtonian at the conference.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee used the Paris Climate Change Conference to sign onto international agreements to fight global warming. He announced an initiative to put electric vehicles on the road in his home state.

Inslee agreed to work with France on climate change response and clean energy. He signed a memorandum of understanding with Chile on joint renewable-energy strategy. He touted his state's efforts in battery and smart-grid technology.

The governors of Washington, Oregon and California have vowed to resist Trump's environmental rollbacks, notably his junking of the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, directed at cutting pollution from coal-burning power plants.

Surveys have shown broad public support for the Paris agreement, however much Americans know -- or don't know -- what's in it.

The Obama administration promised to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025.

The support for Paris extends across the Pacific. China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has promised to spend $360 billion on renewable-energy resources.

"The Paris agreement is a hard-won achievement which is in keeping with the underlying trend of global development," China's President Xi Jinping recently told the World Economic Forum.

In an unmistakable message to Trump, Xi added: "All signatories should stick to it instead of walking away from it as this is a responsibility we must assume for future generations."

Even ExxonMobil, Tillerson's former company, sent a pro-Paris letter to the Trump administration late last month.

It argued that "the United States is well positioned to compete within the framework of the Paris agreement with abundant low-carbon resources such as natural gas, and innovative private industries including the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors."

Still, climate skeptics like EPA's Pruitt, global warming deniers like Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and such powerful right-wing lobbies as the Club for Growth and Heritage Foundation have treated the Paris agreement as an anathema.

"If Trump allows this deal to go forward, he will unwittingly fulfill Hillary Clinton's arrogant and dastardly promise to put every coal miner in America out of a job," Stephen Moore, a nabob at both Club for Growth and Heritage, wrote recently in Investor's Business Daily.

President Trump, in his Feb. 28 address to Congress, promised that Americans will have clean air and clean water. Will he walk, or walk back, his talk?

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.